Grading the first 30 games of Clippers

[donemilio21]

The Los Angeles Clippers had a fantastic preseason. Unfortunately since then it's been spotty. Playing without rookie forward Blake Griffin (knee) for 31 games has been difficult. He's expected to miss another 10-15 so Coach Mike Dunleavy will have to find a way to keep his team afloat in the competitive Western Conference. Injuries have certainly been a factor for LA, including 11 games missed by shooting guard Eric Gordon - but on the heels of a Clipper loss to the decimated Portland Trail Blazers - they can't be used as an excuse. Brief moments like the recent victory over the Boston Celtics only reinforce that the Clippers have underperformed this season. At 13-18, they're only five games behind the eighth seeded Utah Jazz - but can they pull it together to make a serious run?

Best Offensive Weapon: Chris Kaman - The bright spot for the Clippers this season has been the play of Kaman. Chris had shown flashes but he's never shown the level of consistency he's displayed so far this season. He's averaged 20 points a game while shooting over 50% from the field.

That's tops among centers in the league ahead of Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum and Brook Lopez - nearly even with so-called center Amar'e Stoudemire. Of course the Phoenix Suns have listed Amar'e as a power forward all year yet he's listed as a center on the All-Star Ballot while somehow Kaman was left off altogether!

When it comes down to naming reserves, perhaps the league's coaches will give Chris his due.

Kaman is still learning how to operate as the team's primary offensive weapon. He's had mixed results against double-teams, specifically in end-game situations. He leads the team in turnovers at a little over three a game - but all that may change when Griffin returns.

Having the Griffin's athleticism, strength and ability to finish will only make Chris' job easier. While Kaman's numbers may drop slightly, he'll gladly welcome the help.

The biggest difference in Kaman's offensive attack this year is a smooth face up jumper. It's a shot Dunleavy has encouraged Chris to take for years - but it's only over this past summer that Kaman developed confidence in his outside shot.

Best Defensive Weapon: Eric Gordon - The Clippers don't really have any specific role players to come in and defend the opposing team's best player like they had a few years ago in Quinton Ross.

Instead they've got one of their best offensive players also taking on the most difficult assignments. When Gordon isn't averaging about 17 points a game, he's doing a fine job of matching up with some of the best guards in the league like Kobe Bryant, Brandon Roy and the like.

Despite his size (6'3"), Eric manages well against taller opponents although he's probably not ideal to try and take on true small forwards.

Gordon has good instincts, understands Coach Dunleavy's defensive concept and works hard defensively.

As a team the Clippers have had their moments but getting stops late in games has often been an issue.

While Gordon is both a strong offensive and defensive player, the team isn't likely to boast any defensive achievement awards at season's end.

Biggest Surprise: Chris Kaman - Chris has been a reliable low-post option for most of the year. He and Baron Davis have begun to develop a tangible chemistry running the pick and roll together. Kaman can either go hard at the basket or stop and pop with the mid-range jumper with great success.

Last year Chris struggled through a foot injury and was never quite healthy through his 31 games. Finally healed before the summer, he put in a lot of offseason work to achieve what he has thus far this season.

The Clippers would like more wins, but they've gotten more than they expected from Kaman.

Biggest Disappointment: Blake Griffin - Living through last season's 19-win season was a challenge - one that seemed to pay off when the Clippers caught a lucky bounce at the Draft Lottery. Landing Griffin was huge for the organization.

It will be huge for the organization moving forward.

Through the first 30-31 games? Blake's injury has been nothing but deflating.

The good news is that he's expected to recover fully and relatively soon (before the end of January).

The bad news is that the Clippers just aren't as good as they hoped they'd be this season.

Areas to Address before the Deadline: Serious player movement debate probably won't happen until Griffin is back healthy. The Clippers will have a long list of suitors for Marcus Camby but as long as the team is still in reach of the playoffs - Marcus may be too valuable for a postseason run to deal.

If the Clippers fall out of the race completely, Camby (in the last year of his deal) becomes more expendable. LA is one of many teams positioned to have cap space in 2010. So while the calls will come in - it'd have to be exactly the right package for the team to take on any additional salary past this season.

Baron Davis, who was a major disappointment last year, he been a lot better in his second season with the team. Eric Gordon continues to develop. Kaman has been impressive and the franchise has the highest of hopes for Griffin.

Moving forward, if there's an area that needs improving it's at small forward where Al Thornton has somewhat hit a plateau as all but exclusively a scorer.

As the team has continued to underachieve for the fourth year in a row since making the playoffs, the coaching of Dunleavy has come into question. Often groups of fans at home losses chant for his departure.
The thrust of the complaint is that other teams like the Houston Rockets and Blazers keep winning despite injuries - while the Clippers can't seem to gain any momentum.

Whether or not the team's internal evaluation of their coach (who also serves as general manager) matches those of the fans, at some point perception becomes reality.

As GM, Dunleavy has fielded a talented team while maintaining cap flexibility. As a coach, he hasn't been able to repeat the success he had four seasons ago.

Winning would solve a lot of problems for the Clippers, but that's not something they've been able to do on a consistent basis.

Overall Grade: C-, HOOPSWORLD's preseason prediction had the Clippers somewhere in the six to nine range in the Western Conference. Based on the current standings, LA is about four to six wins behind schedule. If they had closed out any number of winnable games in the closing moments, they'd be closer to 18-13 instead of 13-18 . . . which would put them on par with the Utah Jazz.

Instead the Clippers are five full games out of a playoff spot with four teams ahead of them in the 9-12 range. Not only will LA have to catch Utah if they want to make the postseason - they'll need to leapfrog the Oklahoma City Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets and Sacramento Kings.

The Clippers have two tremendous wins (Denver and Boston) but have otherwise feasted on other struggling teams. When LA has faced short-handed teams - they've played down to their competition.

Admittedly the Portland Trail Blazers have played well despite a number of serious injuries, but the Clippers have to beat teams playing without some five key players - six if you rightfully count LaMarcus Aldridge leaving the game after six minutes (ankle).

For the season to be salvaged, the Clippers need to find a way to close out tight games and beat up on teams when they're vulnerable.

Griffin will return but can the Clippers stay in contention until he does?

Considering Los Angeles won just 19 games all of last year, the team has clearly improved but there's no denying they've still underachieved . . .

by Eric Pincus HOOPSWORLD

[donemilio21]

I think we are definitely underachieving and with Dunleavy as head coach I have no doubt we'll continue underachieving.

Other disappointments for me were:
Rasual Butler and Craig Smiths performances. They should have contributed more
Donald Sterling for not firing Dunleavy.
Don Mclean for not criticizing Dunleavy and the team enough.
Clippers Medical Staff for not being able to tell us accurately when to expect Griffin back.

[mj_shoefanatic]

Het at least we're better than last years team.

[TheNewEra]

terrible including the weak schdule this team has yet failed again

[DangerCurtis]

I think we are definitely underachieving and with Dunleavy as head coach I have no doubt we'll continue underachieving.

Other disappointments for me were:
Rasual Butler and Craig Smiths performances. They should have contributed more
Donald Sterling for not firing Dunleavy.
Don Mclean for not criticizing Dunleavy and the team enough.
Clippers Medical Staff for not being able to tell us accurately when to expect Griffin back.

I agree with much of this. On the other hand, while Butler has had a slow start, he's starting to come around. As far as Smith goes, it doesn't feel like we've seen enough of him on the court to really criticize him.

I have to admit though, I'm a bit disappointed with Telfair. He has a good jump shot and excels in transition, but he commits way too many stupid fouls and turns the ball over a bit too much in my opinion.

[kombayn]

To me, it's clear that the bench has under-achieved. I thought the bench would clearly do better than last year but they're still one of the worst in the league. That's why the Clippers have lost a lot of games. I can't wait for Blake Griffin to get on the court but I don't think that will help that much this year. I think the Clippers have to make a deal sooner or later to make this team better.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

I just feel that this team has been inconsistent and we haven't been able to take advantage of a favorable schedule so far. It will only get harder from here

[SportsFan215]

I think we are definitely underachieving and with Dunleavy as head coach I have no doubt we'll continue underachieving.

+1

[madmaxmedia]

I think a Camby trade is still very possible, unless we actually hold a 7 or 8 spot and are genuinely afraid of disrupting team chemistry. The reason being is we could conceivably trade Camby for a better younger player with a contract.

As lucky as the Clippers were to snag Blake Griffin, the Lakers actually got luckier in snagging Pau Gasol. Imagine if we were able to package Camby and get a salary dump like Gasol. We even have a Minnesota draft pick (in addition to our own) to sweeten the deal.